I love my Aunt Arvada. She passed away almost 3yrs ago. I miss her like crazy, she was very much a Grandma to me and even better a great friend. This is a picture of the 2 of us when I was probably around 5. I am dressed up in the boa, and she is dressed up in my rockstar get up. She was amazing and accepted me just like I was and whenever we were together we just had fun and laughed.Here are some of my favorite Arvada stories:
I used to spend a day with her before every year at school. We would get all dressed up & do each others makeup. Even though I put her lipstick on crooked she'd walk me to the Dairy Queen across the street with crooked clown makeup & me clomping across the highways in her heels. When we'd get there she would look at the cashier (who was giving us looks like we're crazy) & say, "Hello, aren't we just the most fabulous, beautiful girls you've ever seen? We got all dressed up to have a girls lunch." We'd have lunch & before we left she would say to the people working, "Now we'll be back for ice cream, but 1st we must get into play clothes, I do hope you still recognize our beautiful faces, we can't get chocolate on our boas."
Later in life I was visiting Arvada having lunch w/ her in Jasper with Mamaw, Ann, & Myrna (my cousins). She leans over and whispers (so Mamaw couldn't hear)
"Brianne...do you drink beer?" "Umm...yes Arvada, sometimes"
" I woke up the other day & realized I'm 12 years from being 100 and I can barely finish 1/2 a beer anymore. So if you want a beer, have one, because one day you'll only remember what its like to have one."
"Brianne...you're boyfriend is very cute...do you kiss?"
"Umm...yeah... we kiss"
"Good. I woke up & realized I 'm 12 years from being 100 and I don't want to touch myself to shower, let alone would a man want to get near me. I think if a cute boy wants to kiss you- let him, because one day you'll be too wrinkly & old for men to want to even be near you."
She was a gem! :)
I was listening to Derek Webb's song Dance he wrote about his Grandma that is basically biographical. My favorite line is, "I'd marry you, if you could dance....that what I said. Cause where I'm going there will be dancing everyday" It sounded just like an Arvada answer. Sure I'd marry you, but you can't dance...Sorry; NEXT!!!!
Good advice!
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ReplyDeleteNow that I know I can post, I'll try to duplicate what Mom and I said the other day. It's good we have our memories. Aunt Arvada was certainly someone we need to remember. Mom suggested that your dad, Frank, Jerry, Myrna and I write down our memories of her. What a book it would make!! Did you know that we called her "Annavada"? It was years before I realized she was "Aunt Arvada"! She always told us that we (Ann, Frank and Steve) could never go to Koleen because the people there would throw rocks at us. We were a
ReplyDeletelittle nervous one day when she had to go somewhere with us and it took us through Koleen. As we approached, she screamed, "Good God! Get down! They're getting ready to throw rocks! I'll drive real fast and maybe they won't hit us." And, she sped up and swerved the car to miss being hit by the rocks.
I always got to spend a week with Aunt Arvada on her vacation from RCA. (I'm not sure it was an entire week because I'm sure your dad and Frank got to spend some time there also.) It was pretty neat of her to give up her vacation time to spend with kids. My job was always to clean out the junk drawer in the kitchen. It would take me all morning or afternoon, of course. I loved to smell Uncle Palmer's styptic pencils. She also let me straighten her shoes in her closet. Oh, my. What shoes! and so many!! Of course, I would have to try them on and walk around. She had a pair of leopard print spike heels with just the front strap. The arch had elastic that helped hold them on her feet. She had some silver ones too. My favorite shoes were the baby blue leather. The heels were probably 3" and a thick heel. She wore those with a baby blue wool skirt and white sweater. Did your dad ever tell you that she would walk around in her bra when she was at home? It was usually a white strapless bra with stiff, pointy cups. Mom thinks it was stiff because of the mastectomy. They didn't have nice silicon things to put in the bras. (BTW, Mom said your Grandma just wore a bra around the house, too! That's hard for me to believe.) Did you know Aunt Arvada was badly burned when she was in her early 20's? Apparently a gas fueled iron blew up on her. She had some pretty bad scars from it. I don't think she ever let it bother her. She wore strapless clothes, shorts and never seemed to worry about covering the scars.
Back to visiting, she would let me take a blanket, Sears Catalog and scissors out in the front yard and cut out paper dolls. I suspect now, that it was when she needed a break from my incessant talking and questions. Aunt Arvada always had an answer for every question and would make one up if she didn't know the answer! Hope this helps you with sharing your memories! Love you, Bri. Ann